Though I placed Magda’s family in a completely invented rural village of Voštiny, Lidice did exist. The story of that Nazi reprisal is devastating, and the memorial—an entire area of beautiful fields and hills, and a lake and a willow and a running stream—is one of the most heartbreaking I have ever experienced. I felt moved to at least mention this tragic story, and thus placed Magda’s family at a distant relative’s after their farm was requisitioned by Germans. This decision was solely based on wanting the reader to be aware of this event and means no disrespect to those families who were murdered at the hands of Nazis.
The Napola (the elite Nazi school) in Ploskovice also existed.
The End of the War in Litoměřice
The meeting in the nonspecified Polish guesthouse is loosely based on the Ukrainian research I have done with members of my family. It was of great advantage to have that perspective and to be able to build it into Magda’s story.
On May 10, 1945, the Thirty-Third Rifle Guards and the Fifty Guards Army occupied Litoměřice. The locals raided the armories and took some “matters” into their own hands. The National Revolutionary Committee was quickly formed. Whether collaborators were shot on any roads on the Litoměřice outskirts, I cannot say. The scene with Aleš and Renata on the road on this day was, however, based on recently discovered films of reprisals conducted on collaborators. The Czech Republic’s media released these to the public recently in a concerted effort for the country to come to terms in its role in the aftermath.
Thank you so much for choosing this book to read. Your reviews on all relevant platforms are most welcome and most appreciated. If they’re positive, we celebrate. If you have suggestions on how we might do better, we welcome it so that we can better develop our craft. Thank you!
Greetings from Austria,
Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger
May 2020
Acknowledgments
I am exceptionally grateful to Dr. Iva Rapavá and Mag. Tomáš Gol from the Department of History at Terezín Memorial (Theresienstadt). I am also grateful to the warm welcome and coordination at both the Litoměřice District Archives and especially at the Litoměřice Municipal Archives in Lovosice. The staff was incredibly well organized, helpful, and gracious. Our stay in Litoměřice overall was exceptional. Warm, friendly people and a great atmosphere that, considering the episodes of dark history that occurred there, is quite remarkable and inspiring.
Special thanks to Ursula Hechenberger-Schwärzler for accompanying me on one of the most enriching road trips of my life. Dori Harrell, who once again, has made it much better with her edits. Thanks to my writing colleagues on Facebook and my friends and my family who have volunteered to read so many of the earlier versions and parts of this book, and most-most-most especially to my husband, who during the incredibly intensive time it took me to complete this novel, really did everything to assure I had no distractions and released me from as many burdens as possible.
To all my friends who felt forsaken during this time: I shall make it up to you.
About the Author
Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger is a Ukrainian American who lives in Austria and writes historical fiction. Her award-winning Reschen Valley series was inspired by a trip to northern Italy. You can find her on www.inktreks.com as well as on Facebook, Twitter, Bookbub, and Goodreads. She loves connecting with her readers. You can email her at [email protected]. She lives in a Grizzly Adams hut in the Alps with her husband, cat, and dog, and moonlights as a communications coach and corporate training game developer.
Read More from Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger
www.inktreks.com
Liberation Berlin
JJ Toner
Contents
Synopsis
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Part II
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Part III
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Part IV
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Part V
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Part VI
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Epilogue
About the Author
Synopsis
In 1945, when the Red Army overran Berlin, they liberated the German people from the tyranny of the Nazis, but was life under the Soviets any better?
Berlin 1944. Inge, a 14-year-old Jewish girl is in hiding. She fears the Gestapo more than she fears the advancing Soviet troops.
As the Red Army encircles the city, the remains of a defeated German army face overwhelming odds. But the fanatical SS refuse to give up, recruiting boys and old men to man the trenches.
Led by a baker’s assistant and a one-legged ex-soldier, a ragtag collection of friends makes desperate plans to help Inge escape.
They are up against a continuous day-and-night Allied bombing campaign and Anton, a 12-year-old Hitler Youth, who can’t wait to join the battle and have his moment of glory.
Part I
1
Berlin, June 1957
Berlin was a city reborn. Military vehicles buzzed around streets populated with earnest young people, and construction cranes dominated the skyline.
The sun beamed down on a couple tending their crops on an allotment in Westend. A tall man in an ill-fitting suit approached. He had a paunch and walked with a slight limp.
The woman drew her husband’s attention to the stranger.
“Can I help you?” said the young man, brushing soil from his hands.
“This used to be my plot, before the war,” said the stranger.
“You left before the war?”
“I got out just before the end.”
“You were lucky, so,” said the young man. “What did you grow here?”
The older man smiled. “Potatoes, carrots and cabbages. And onions. Lots of onions. I had a cabin at the back, there.”
“There was no cabin when we took it,” said the woman.
The young man pointed to the lopsided shed. “I built that.”
The older man held out his hand. “My name is Hans Klein.”
The men shook hands.
“I’m Hermann Hübner. This is my wife, Carla.”
“We have carrots and onions,” said Frau Hübner. “And we thought we’d try peas.”
“And we have this.” Hübner
